I just really need to know how to NOT ruin my fondant when I color it. It turns so soft and looks horrible once on the cake with little cracks and pot holes. I've tried adding more ps. Someone out there surely has mastered this problem, right?

Are you using a homemade recipe for fondant or ready to use fondant? Also, what kind of coloring are using for your fondant?

It's been my experience that I've had better success with coloring and usage with the ready to use fondant and gel coloring. If I'm using boxed fondant I will flavor it to make it better tasting.

Homemade recipes vary greatly in their properties. If the problem is softness, have you tried cornstarch instead of powdered sugar?

You mentioned cracks. That sounds like a dryness issue and I usually try smooth in some white shortening to ease the appearance.

I'm not sure if you mean holes in the fondant or other blemishes when you say potholes.

What sort of colored fondant are you trying to achieve?



Sweetly,
Marie

Thanks Marie for helping me out.

I make my own fondant using 2 T melted crisco, 1/2 c water, 2 envelopes of gelatin, 1 T of vanilla and 1 T creme bouquet an 1 heaping cup of glucose and of course 3-4 lbs of ps. This recipe is pretty consistent for me until I try to color it. I use Americolor liquid coloring which was recommended by a cake designer.

I add my coloring after I have let it set overnight. The fondant gets very soft. I add more ps and it gets sticky, you know how it starts to stick to your palms? I add a little more crisco to help out. I'm not sure how much more ps I can add with out making it a total loss.

When I roll it out it sticks to the board more than it ever does plain white. I usually make sure it feels smooth before I transfer to the cake. Where the fondant has to bend it tends to tear and create little potholes. I can put shortening on these but that doesn't take them all the way out.
I made chocolate fondant with a mix of homemade and pettinice chocolate together and I had the worst time. It's like the outside feels smooth but the inside when it stretches is like a toostie roll breaking in half.

I'm sorry for the looong post but I hate not knowing how to fix this and I can't imagine nobody has had this problem.

I had this happen just once, when I was trying for a very dark blue. (Once of a whole four times!) I added more powdered sugar when it started feeling sticky, too, and then I greased it with Crisco and wrapped it all up and stuck it in the fridge for half an hour. That seemed to do the trick nicely.

I had a problem with my fondant the other day. I use the mmf and was trying to get a really good red. I had to add ALOT of color (wilton gel) and my fondant was so "weird" it was real "crumbly" I was trying to make ribbon to go around the cake. Every time I would try and pick it up to place on the cake it would just break. I had a horrible time!! Im still not sure what thats all about.

i use the MMF recipe, i really love it and haven't had any trouble. i color my fondant after melting the marshmallows, before adding the ps. when rolling it out, i use corn starch, feel it makes my fondant super smooth and easier to get off excess dust.

Kimberlina25, I like your idea of coloring before the addition of powdered sugar. I'm going to try that one next time.

Kristina67, I understand your hesitation at adding more ps and disrupting the balance of the recipe. I'd use cornstarch in place of more ps and I'd do a dusting of cornstarch on my work surface and my roller before working with it.

Without knowing the exact order of your recipe is there a way to use kimberlina25's suggestion of coloring before the ps addition? Or are you doing that already?

duncanhinesgirl, I thought about adding the coloring in the liquid phase but I don't think you can regulate how the finished color will look. Or can you?

It's good to add the color in with the liquid as it will give you a base, then you can always add a little more color after the fact, but it will not screw with the end product as much.

I think PinkZiab's got the right idea.

Whatever avenue you go, kristina67, good luck with fondant in your next cake project.